Airbus warns it could leave UK if there’s no Brexit deal
FIRM HAS A PLANT FOR AIRCRAFT PARTS AND A SPACE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE IN BRITAIN
Aviation giant Airbus has warned it could pull out of Britain if it leaves the European Union without a deal, upping the pressure yesterday on British Prime Minister Theresa May to make progress in Brexit negotiations with Brussels.
The European group, which directly employs nearly 15,000 people, warned that crashing out of the bloc would be “catastrophic” and force it to consider its investments.
“Put simply, a ‘no deal’ scenario directly threatens Airbus’ future in the UK,” said chief operating officer Tom Williams.
May’s government holds out the possibility of walking away as a negotiating tactic, but says she expects to get a deal before it exits the bloc on March 29 next year.
“We have made significant progress towards agreeing to a deep and special partnership with the EU to ensure trade remains as free and frictionless as possible, including in the aerospace sector,” a spokeswoman said.
However, talks are stalled on the issue of the Irish border and Britain’s indecision over what it wants.
Time running out for UK
EU leaders, who will meet May at a summit this week, have warned that time is running out, while Brussels has urged them to step up preparations for no deal.
Britain intends to leave the EU’s single market and customs union to forge its own independent trade policy and end free movement of labour.
In a Brexit risk assessment, Airbus said if plans for a transition deal failed and this break happened in March, it “would lead to severe disruption”. ■
“This scenario would force Airbus to reconsider its investments in the UK, and its longterm footprint in the country,” the report said.
Airbus builds wings and landing gear for commercial aircraft in Britain and also has a space technology centre in the country, supporting 117,000 jobs overall.
In Wales, where one of the largest of more than 25 Airbus sites is based, the devolved government run by the UK’s opposition Labour party said the warning was “extremely worrying”.
Labour’s UK Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said May’s “reckless decision to keep no deal on the table and to rule out a customs union or strong single market deal after Brexit is putting jobs and the economy at risk”.
Former Wales minister Stephen Crabb, a member of May’s Conservative party, said it was a “wake-up call”.
Steve Turner, of Britain’s biggest
Keir Starmer | Labour’s UK Brexit spokesman
trade union Unite, added: “People voted to leave the EU, but didn’t back leave to lose their jobs and see their livelihoods smashed on the cliff face of a ‘hard Brexit’.”
However, Ian Paisley Jr, an MP for the Brexit-supporting Democratic Unionist party (DUP) which props up May’s government, said it was a “scare story”.